Harry's Work Experience
by Rowlingfan94
Summary: This is a story that i wrote about Harry taking work experience. It is set midway through Harry's 5th Year at Hogwarts - and i tried to make the context fit in with this. I also tried to write it JK Rowling's style. I hope you like it!
1. Chapter 1

February 1st dawned as blustery and cold as ever. The layers of ice and sleet that covered the Grounds and lake were so thick that the Weasley twins could be spotted skating across it, taking turns to melt the path behind them so that Filch could not follow. Lee Jordan had even managed to kidnap Mrs Norris, placing her on a thin piece of ice in the centre of the lake and melting all the surroundings. This resulted in a furious Filch having to rescue her in a small canoe, and a week's worth of detentions for Lee ("It was completely worth it!").

Harry, Ron and Hermione however, were having less fun. Harry and Ron were now so far behind on their homework that they were spending every night in the same squashy armchairs in Gryffindor tower, scarves wrapped around their necks and faces, poring over rolls and rolls of parchment. They barely had time to focus on anything else, and even though Harry no longer had Quidditch Practice, meaning he had more free nights – he was always the first one to reach the common room after lessons and the last to leave it at night. Hermione was, as ever, up to date with her Homework, but refused point blank to let Harry and Ron copy. ("No Harry!" she said reproachfully, when he asked to look at her work on one particularly tough Transfiguration essay. "If you don't learn it now you never will, and the uses of Human Transfiguration will defiantly come up in the OWLs, because I specifically asked Professor McGonagall which subjects we ought to be revising!")

Harry and Ron had therefore had to manage on their own abilities in Transfiguration, which, Harry felt, left a lot to be desired.  
"P, Potter" said Professor McGonagall, handing back Harry's essay and looking rather irritated. "Did you even read page 65 of the textbook?"

Harry opened his mouth to respond but Professor McGonagall had already moved on and was saying "A, Thomas, an encouraging score" to Dean. Scowling, he shoved his essay into his bag with his foot, just as the bell rang for morning break.

"Just one minute please!" Professor McGonagall bellowed over the scraping of chairs and ruffling of parchment.

"As those who have read the notice board in the common room already know, Thursday and Friday of this week will be your Work Experience. This is a chance for 5th years to experience two days of work in the real world. It will help you to contemplate which careers you might want to consider once you leave school"

Harry and Ron had not read the notice board, but it seemed they were the only ones. Hermione was nodding anxiously and Parvati and Lavender were looking excited.

"...and so I need you all to write down somewhere you would be interested in applying!" Professor McGonagall was saying, "And give it to your Heads of House by tomorrow morning. Okay, you may go".

Once again there was a loud clattering of books and quills, and the scraping of chairs as the class left the room.

"It should be fascinating!" said Hermione frantically as they stood huddled in one corner of the snowy courtyard, "I've always wondered what careers are like in the Wizarding world, and it should be a real eye-opener, providing we get some good placements!"

"Sounds really dull to me" said Ron "following people around all day? Come off it."  
Harry, who had been imagining spending the days sitting in a cramped cubicle in the Ministry of Magic, sifting through paperwork with Percy, had to agree.

"No, don't you see?" Hermione said earnestly "It's not all Ministry of Magic and offices, there are loads of different careers, like Aurors or Healers or Curse Breakers!"

"Well yeah" said Ron, "but what are the chances we get to be Curse breakers Hermione? Nah, I reckon it'll be working in the Three Broomsticks or something. Well, I suppose that wouldn't be _too _bad..." he tailed off, blushing.

Hermione shot him a withering look.

"You can't work behind a bar until you're seventeen anyway" Harry pointed out.

"Well I could clean tables and stuff" Ron said hopefully.  
"Oh you are pathetic!" Hermione said, pulling her cloak around her chin to protect her from the icy wind.

"So is that what you're gonna write down for McGonagall?" Harry asked before Ron could reply. "Cleaning tables in the Three Broomsticks?"

"Well no, I was just saying... well it's better than working at the Ministry with Percy or Fudge" He said defiantly.  
"Or you could work with your dad, Ron" said Hermione. "That should be interesting, I've always wondered about how wizards view Muggle objects..."

But before she could say anything else, the bell rang for the start of their next lesson, and the three of them hurried off to Charms, eager to get inside the warm classrooms and out of the snow.

The rest of the day passed uneventfully, unless you count Crabbe breaking his fifth chair in potions, and there was no more talk of work experience until dinner, when Harry, Ron and Hermione were joined by Fred and George in the Great Hall.  
"I mean," Ron was saying loudly, his mouth full of mashed potato "Percy's always going on about how great it is to be working and everything, and I just think, how am I going to enjoy _anything" _he swallowed massively, "that Percy thinks is good?"

"Work experience?" George asked, taking the seat next to Harry, who nodded.

"It's that time again is it?" said Fred, taking the seat opposite George. "Ah, such good memories..."

"Oh yeah I forgot you'd done it!" said Ron, who was now shoving Chicken into his already full mouth. "Ooh, where did you go?" asked Hermione enthusiastically.

"Zonko's" said Fred, who was surveying Ron with distaste. "We learned a lot on work experience, although not _necessarily _what the school wanted us to." He turned to Hermione and grinned.

"Any thoughts on what you're gonna put down yet?" George asked them.

"I've had loads of ideas!" said Hermione quickly, while Harry and Ron shook their heads. "First I thought of Gringotts, but then I thought the Auror office would be interesting, or maybe I could go to the Daily Prophet, try and get them to print something nice about Harry for a change."

"Ha, good luck with that!" Harry said. "The Auror office though... yeah that would be good..."

"Do they give placements there?" Hermione asked Fred and George.

"Yeah they do" said Fred, "they give them anywhere; a girl in our year even went to the Irish Quidditch team, helped out their training sessions!"

"No way!" said Ron.

"Yep" said George. "And a Slytherin in the year above us went to China to deal with dragons!"

"Well, yeah" said Fred as Hermione looked awestruck "but he had to stay off school the whole of the next week... something about burns in painful places..." he winced, and they all laughed, Ron accidentally spraying Hermione with pieces of roast ham. After that, the talk turned to OWLs, and Harry stopped listening and began to think. How cool would it be to be an Auror for a bit? He could see how they worked, the way they trained, and maybe even pick up some tips about Defence against the dark arts? If anyone needed them, it was him. But Quidditch though...

He was still thinking about it as they climbed the staircases that would lead them to Gryffindor tower, and it wasn't until they were climbing through the portrait hole and Ron said "Harry!" did he stop and turn towards him.

"What?"

"Hermione and I were just saying, we ought to write down our preferred placements now, so we don't have to rush in the morning."

"Oh, right. Yeah."

They settled themselves in their favourite armchairs by the fire and Hermione handed Harry and Ron

a piece of parchment and a quill each. Harry took them, made up his mind on the spot and wrote

"Auror Office, Ministry of Magic" on the parchment, along with his name.

**


	2. Chapter 2

Professor McGonagall collected their slips of parchment the next day at breakfast. Harry could see

Professors Flitwick, Snape and Sprout all doing the same thing at the other house tables.

She also gave them a time that they should arrive at her office to find out which placements they

had been given.

"Excellent! 11:45 that's midway through potions!" beamed Harry. "What've you got?" he asked

turning to Ron and Hermione.

"9:30" said Hermione looking crestfallen. "I'm going to miss half of ancient runes! I hope it won't

take too long..."

"2 o Clock – that's History of Magic" said Ron "I'd still rather miss potions though."

Ron and Hermione had both had more trouble deciding on which placements to apply for than Harry had. Hermione had dithered over many different options – even dashing off to ask Professor Flitwick which he thought was best, before finally deciding on Gringotts, the wizard Bank. Ron still wanted to apply at the Three Broomsticks, but was worried that his mother might not approve, and he took almost half an hour to make up his mind, before deciding that he might as well aim high and ask for the Irish International Quidditch team. Hermione said she thought that he had more chance of getting blessing from Mrs Weasley for working at the Three Broomsticks than he did of receiving that placement, and Harry privately agreed.

His musings about work experience carried him all the way through double divination, and it was a relatively painless lesson. He and Ron spent most of it wondering if Hermione had got what she wanted, and laughing aloud when Ron suggested they might give her the job of waitress in the Hogs Head. However, it was with good news that Hermione joined them outside Snape's dungeon before Potions.  
"I got it! I'm working at Gringotts" she informed them breathlessly. "Professor McGonagall said there were a lot of applications for it, but she thought I would represent Hogwarts best!"

Just then, Snape came striding into view, followed by Malfoy, who was looking thoroughly pleased with himself.  
"Just got my work experience placement" he said loudly as the class filed into the dungeon. "The one I wanted of course."

"Smarmy little git" Ron muttered, as he, Harry and Hermione took their usual seats at the back of the classroom.

Harry said nothing. He hoped he would get his placement, but he wasn't optimistic. He had a feeling that Dumbledore wouldn't want him anywhere near the Ministry at the moment. He had barely unpacked his potions ingredients when Hermione nudged him at nodded at the clock.

"Professor, I've got to go, work experience appointment" He said loudly. Snape stared at him for a second and then said

"Very well, leave your things here. I expect you back before twelve Potter."

Harry hurried out of the dungeons and up the stone steps to the entrance hall. He wondered again whether he would get the Auror office. If not, what else was there? A shop maybe? Quality Quidditch supplies? That would be okay, as long as it wasn't something terribly boring, like Flourish and Blotts or Madam Malkins...

He reached Professor McGonagall's office just as Parvati Patil was leaving it, beaming.

"I got it!" she told him excitedly "My first choice, Madam Puddifoots teashop!"  
"Err, Congratulations" Harry said, feeling privately that he would rather do a week at the Daily Prophet than two days in Madam Puddifoots.

"Thanks! I thought I wasn't going to get it, Lavender didn't – she applied for Honeydukes, but then Seamus got that. She's stuck with Dervish and Bangs!"

"Potter!" called Professor McGonagall, who was standing in the doorway, and Harry moved forward into the large, brightly lit office.

Professor McGonagall gestured at the stiff wooden chair in front of her desk and said

"Sit". Harry sat.

He had been in this office already this year, sent there by Professor Umbridge as a punishment for telling the truth about Voldemort. His insides boiled at the memory. Umbridge really was twisted, evil old-

"So" said professor McGonagall, slamming the door and making Harry jump. "Let me just have a look at your placement Potter." She sat down opposite him and ran her quill down a long piece of parchment, finally stopping about two thirds of the way down.

"Ah." She said looking up him. "Yes here you are. St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries." She put the quill down and looked up at him expectantly.

"What?" asked Harry, shocked.

"You heard me, Potter". She said impatiently, already standing up. "St Mungo's. London."

"I know where it is!" said Harry, sounding rather ruder than he had intended to. "Sorry, Professor" he said hastily. "It's just I didn't apply there, I applied at-"

"I know where you applied Potter. But not all students get there first choices I'm afraid and yours proved very popular. You will go to St Mungo's at nine O'clock on Thursday morning. Ask for Healer Damol."

And she swept him out of her office without another word.

"How'd it go?" whispered Ron eagerly, when Harry joined him and Hermione in Potions ten minutes later.

"Rubbish." Harry muttered. "I got St Mungo's."

"What?!"

"Silence!" Snape hissed at them. "Five points from Gryffindor for your lateness Potter. I said I wanted you back before 12. It is now 12:04, and, yes, another five for disrupting my lesson."

The day just continued to get worse from then on, after Snape had declared Harry's potion "worthy of a 5 year old", to shrill laughter from the Slytherins, he made Harry stay behind after class to clean up everyone else's leftover beetle eyes. Then, when he finally joined Ron and Hermione at the Gryffindor table for lunch, Harry was met with even more unwelcome news.

"Malfoy got Borgin and Burkes!"

"No way!" said Harry angrily, spilling pumpkin juice all down the front of his robes.

"Yes, way" said Hermione grimly. "I heard him boasting to Parkinson after Potions, and Snape was right behind us so he wouldn't have lied."

"What's Dumbledore playing at? Giving Malfoy _Borgin and Burkes!_ Everyone knows it's full of dark magic and his father's a death eater!"

"I know." Said Ron, "and you won't believe who got your Auror place. That lousy Hufflepuff git, Smith."

"You're joking!"

"I wish I was mate. That one should have been yours. I'm dreading finding out mine now!"

Extremely annoyed, Harry shovelled beef casserole into his mouth and stared up at the staff table. Dumbledore was sitting there, enjoying the same beef casserole as Harry by the looks of it, and deep in conversation with Professor Umbridge, who was smiling widely.

Harry suddenly found that he had lost his appetite.

"Come on, let's go" he said to Ron and Hermione, swinging his schoolbag over his shoulder and standing up abruptly.

They spent the rest of the lunch hour in the Gryffindor common room, abusing Snape and Umbridge heartily and making a start on some more homework before History of Magic. When the bell rang at the end of lunch, Harry and Hermione said goodbye to Ron, who would miss the first fifteen minutes of the lesson due to his appointment with McGonagall, and headed down the History of Magic classroom, where they were joined before long by the rest of the Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs from their year.

Binns's classroom was absolutely freezing. The snow outside was now falling so thick and fast that the majority of students wore gloves and scarves indoors and Susan Bones of Hufflepuff had even taken to wearing earmuffs and a woolly hat. As usual, Binns droned on and on about something completely mundane and tedious. Only Hermione seemed to be listening. When Ron entered the classroom, some twenty minutes (though it felt like hours to Harry) later, three people had already gone to the hospital wing having had nosebleeds, thrown up and fainted, thanks to Fred and George's wide range of products.

Harry jumped as Ron slammed his bag down next to him with tremendous force. He had been watching flecks of snow hit the window, and making bets with himself as to which would slide down to the bottom in the quickest time.

"Get anywhere good?" he asked, although he already knew the answer.

"Of course not", Ron snapped. "When do I ever get anything good?"

Harry chose to ignore this last comment and instead asked,

"So... what have you got?"

"Gladrags Wizardwear." Ron spat, as though he had just uttered something disgusting.

"Oh." Said Harry, who was starting to see his own placement in a rather better light. "Um, which branch?"

"London." Ron said quietly. Then he said so loudly that he made Harry jump again, "It just isn't fair!! All I want is something that isn't _embarrassing _for a change! I mean, Percy got the Department of International Magical Co-operation, Charlie got Ollivander's and Bill got Gringotts, and they even offered him a job afterwards! I'll be the laughingstock of the school!"

"Well, at least we're all in London." Harry said bracingly, promptly stepping on Hermione's foot, for he was sure she had just opened her mouth to ask whether or not they thought Gringotts would offer her a job too. "We could meet up for lunch!"

"Great" said Ron gloomily.

"Oh don't be so sulky Ron!" Hermione said, then dropping her voice to a whisper she hissed "You're not the only one who didn't get their first choice. Lavender got Dervish and Bangs and Terry Boot got Scrivenshafts and that's just as bad!"

"And" She added, ignoring the warning look Harry shot her, "it's your own fault for asking for such a ridiculous placement in the first place!"

Ron did not speak to her for the rest of the day.


End file.
